Air spreaders are commonly used in agricultural operations to apply particulate materials such as seed, fertilizer and/or herbicides into or onto the soil to enhance the potential bounty of the soil. These apparatus are often comprised of a wheeled cart that includes one or more tanks and meters to both hold and meter particulate materials. The metered particulate material can be delivered to the soil through pneumatic pipes that attach to ground-engaging openers which engage soil and permit delivery of particulate material such as seed or fertilizer to furrows which are created in the soil by the ground-engaging openers.
Historically, farm sizes have increased and likewise field sizes have increased. Seeding and fertilizing equipment has likewise become larger and more efficient. However, when attempting to seed/fertilize a smaller piece of land within a larger piece of land, or a piece of land with an irregular shape such as a triangle, the larger equipment can be difficult to use efficiently. For example, when seeding, these land irregularities can create a significant overlap in the area of soil being seeded and/or fertilized. As a result, the cost expended on seed and fertilizer is in excess of what is necessary for proper seeding and fertilizing. Existing equipment alleviated part of the problem of overlapping applications by allowing an operator to disable sections of air seeders and granular dispensing apparatus. However, enabling and disabling sections of apparatus can disrupt the air flow of the apparatus and result in non-uniform dispensing pattern of the particulate materials and damage to the particulate materials such as seeds.